Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Druid and Roman Gods Align for a Spectacular Met Gala

Bellini’s Norma

Opening Night Gala

Metropolitan Opera

September 25, 2017

The gods align for the greatest opera about female friendshipPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: I always arrive at the Met opening gala with a mix of trepidation
and excitement, but this time even more so since Bellini’s Norma is
easily one of my favorite operas – I was preoccupied about being disappointed
by a cast not up to snuff or a lackluster production. While I can suffer
through a mediocre Wagner as season opener, a butchered Norma is
definitely a bad omen for the year to come.

Lui: Thankfully, the Druid and Roman gods aligned as this turned out to
be possibly the best Norma I’ve ever seen live. Musically spectacular
and dramatically solid, this production delivered the most exciting opening
night of the last eight years.

The sacred forest has dreamlike qualitiesPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: Replacing the Met’s prior minimalist production of Norma, Sir
David McVicar went back to the basics with a naturalistic and potentially
more historically accurate interpretation. While this approach may have seemed
uninventive at first blush, a closer look revealed it to be rife with
interesting details and thoughtful choices, all perfectly executed. The sets
designed by Robert Jones were lush without being overwrought and best of
all they were dynamic, moving vertically between the forest and Norma’s
domestic den, making for majestically swift scene changes.

Lui: The sacred forest that provides the backdrop for most of the grand
scenes seemed a generic dark woodsy place at first. But, as the action evolved
it turned out that all of the trees moved, oneirically sliding in several
directions, expanding and compressing different spaces. Equally magical were
the twilight effects of the sunrays dancing through the somber forest, as if
filtered through leaves we could not see.

A model of Norma's womb-like abodePhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: Norma’s home was encircled by womb-like walls of mud and wood that
produced a rustic earth-goddess effect. As with the rest of the sets, the
richness of detail was striking: a pot bubbled over a fire, a loom stood to one
side alongside several orderly storage urns, as well as a small altar with
candles, and a cozy bed adorned with animal furs.

But perhaps the most spectacular touch was in the finale, when the
fire of the pyre on the horizon reverberated with dancing orange lights,
creating an infernal background for the dark shadows of the characters on
stage.

Lui: During the overture, we see Oroveso and a group of Druids carrying
several dead warriors on stretchers and mourning their losses. This set the
tone for the Druids being in a losing war with the Roman oppressors, creating
from the get-go a highly polarized background against which the many dramatic
tensions of the opera played out.

The priestess harnesses her chaste goddessPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: During the prayer Casta Diva, Adalgisa takes a prominent
role in the ritual, right next to Norma. She takes her hand, which emphasizes
the closeness of their professional relationship that, too, will explode in the
love triangle to come.

Lui: In McVicar’s vision, the unholy priestess and her entire coterie
(except for Joyce DiDonato’s embodiment of Adalgisa) are all hyper-sexed up.
Her attendants are all earthy and legs and flesh and writhing around, often on
the ground. Norma too in her introductory prayer presents herself on her raised
altar-like stage as a Dionysian force of nature. She lays out on her back with
her legs spread and chest open toward the moon in a gesture of harnessing its
power. And it was a very powerful take on the character.

Adalgisa stands by Norma's sidePhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: The costumes by Moritz Junge were also aiming at some
historical accuracy, with simple monochrome tunics for Norma and Adalgisa and
the usual Roman armor for Pollione. What really stood out here though was the
chorus, as McVicar delivered the most chthonic take on Bellini’s Druids I have
ever seen. Finally someone is willing to take a risk on conjuring a bit of the
Dionysian in our genteel days. I get the feeling we have the influence of Game
of Thrones on the current gestalt to thank. The chorus of bloodthirsty
tribal warriors was HBO-worthy, torches, hog head and mud-stained exposed flesh
and all.

Whenever the warrior Druids and their wild women were on stage
they were a force to be reckoned with, emanating visceral energy from every
pore as they constantly hoped that Norma would allow them to unleash their fury
(and when she finally does, their Guerra! Guerra! really goes all out
with fire, war dances of intimidation and more).

But most important of all, musically everything worked beautifully
under the baton of maestro Carlo Rizzi. The entire cast was on point,
with not a single weak link.

Sondra Radvanovsky comes into her own as NormaPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lui: Sondra Radvanovsky
has decidedly grown into the role. Since the last time we saw her as Norma, she
has matured into an even more well rounded singer and artist. Tonight she was
warmer, more expressive, more powerful and even more subtle in those tenuous
and tender voiced moments. She was a star.

Joyce DiDonato also exceeded all
my expectations. I have long been a fan but have grown accustomed to hearing
her sing either the lighter more playful bel canto repertoire or the high
baroque. In this meatier more dramatic role she really showed off her bel canto chops and elevated every one
of her duets with the majestic Norma. Plus she and Radvanovsky had real
chemistry as friends.

Lei: The opera presents one of the most moving representations of
female friendship in the repertory, but these two women and their obviously
sensitive souls brought it to a whole other level. Musically their duets were
executed with the utmost care and craft and their body language expressed just
how intimately in sync these two characters are. The appeal of Norma lies also
in its profound feminine core.

Lui: My only qualms were that DiDonato was the only one who didn’t seem
to belong. With her perfectly blown out, close-cropped modern hairstyle, she
seemed like a page boy who wandered out of a different opera, rather than a member
of the otherwise dramatically bedraggled Druid holy women. It’s a minor detail,
but her solar blonde locks shone out against the drab landscape of these moon
worshippers like a sore thumb, albeit a drop-dead gorgeous one.

Lei: Matthew Rose as Oroveso was
effortlessly potentissimo, earthy yet very musical. Acting-wise he
exuded a refreshing warrior-like vigor that is rather uncommon in the character
who is more often is played as a frail elderly man. Rose blew me away and I
will definitely be looking forward to hearing him again.

Pollione owns his womenPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lui: The Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja was a terrific Pollione. It
apparently takes a Mediterranean tenor to get a Roman Druid-ladies’ man right.
Calleja’s Pollione was cocky, entitled and unapologetic. Often harshly grabbing
Adalgisa or Norma by their necks so as to bend them into submission, he
strutted around in his Roman garb and acted like the kind of impossible jerk
who in too many instances is apparently so irresistible to women. Vocally,
Calleja’s tenor was in great form: warm, sunny and seductive, with excellent
phrasing and perfect control both in his solo arias and in the many ensemble
parts.

The Druids channel the Dionysian in their war dancePhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: No matter how many Normas I’ve seen, I just can never get enough of it, not least of all
because every time I learn something new or I discover an angle I hadn’t
considered before. This time, perhaps due to the very lively chorus who eagerly
awaited Norma’s direction, I was particularly struck by how disgraceful of a
public figure the Norma character is. She effectively betrays her people and
her duties as a spiritual and political leader for the love of a man who just
also happens to be one of their most charismatic enemies. Even worse, she uses
her powers to either protect or punish her lover and father of her children,
potentially to the detriment of her fellow Druids.

Lui: But, this is also what makes her such a complex, deeply human and
even relatable character. Her internal conflicts and weaknesses but also her
ultimate honesty and redemption. When in this production Norma tenderly
embraces Pollione in front of her baffled countrymen, she is a bad priestess,
yes, but also a woman who is ecstatic to regain her man’s affection and is not
afraid of loving passionately, even if that means death.

Lei: In the finale, Norma gets covered in a black veil before turning
her back to the public and proudly walking to the stake hand in hand with her
lover, not as a martyr but as an empowered bride, all while her betrayed people
basically curse her:

Vanne al rogo! Ed il tuo
scempio
Purghi l’ara e lavi il tempio!

Maledetta estinta ancor!

Hence to the pyre! May your
last breath

Pacify our altar and our
temple.

Malediction after life have
power!

Lui: Whereas in other productions this moment can be played with a
certain melancholic remorse that comes off as an affectionate fondness for the
fallen priestess whom they are forced to reluctantly execute, here it came off
scathing and hostile with an undertone of defeat rather than melancholy. These
were the words of a betrayed people who still have impossible odds to face in
the days ahead. Thus the tragedy was heightened.

The Druids are thirsty for Roman bloodPhoto credit: Ken Howard

Lei: With this Norma the Met went back to the basics, with a
traditional risk-free production, which most importantly allowed the beauty of
Bellini’s music and emotional charge to shine in all its glory. When the basics
are as divine as Norma (a perfect dramatic and musical masterpiece), the
basics done right are all you need – nothing more, nothing less.